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WHEN WILDFLOWER SEASON... begins to slowly tendril into our peripheral visions not long after the start of the year, well, the whole show can seem rather over by the time April says "adieu" and May makes its way to the door. True, the flowers of California's deepest deserts don't truly spring to spectacular life before late February, but hearing of small sprays of gold and orange, in this canyon or that arroyo come January isn't completely out of the question. What is a question, though, is whether the magical time of wildflower wonder pushes on beyond that early-opening window, the window of winter-into-spring, and on into the days when summer arrives in all of its fecund glory. In short, that wonder still very much exists around the higher elevations and slopes of some of our state's prettiest peaks. And one county that's known for its Junetime flower show is also the place where you can ski right through to Father's Day, so, yeah, it is understandable that the buds are taking their sweet time to burst. It's...

MONO COUNTY, the lovely land o' lupine, paintbrush, hawksbeard, mule ears, and sticky yellow-throats. Those poetic petals have a way of making their seasonal bows around June, or a bit earlier, and finding the flowers means finding a hike that will take you to where they're known to appear. Mono County Tourism is there for us, dear wildflowerians of California, and this very page can direct you to various trails, roads, and lakes where these mountain gems show their seasonal stuff. And if you can't quite find that spread of lupine or Labrador tea shrub you're seeking, take heart: June is a time of lake fun, of fishing, picnics, and soft, late-spring mornings and evenings. Seek the flowers but revel in whatever Mono marvels you are lucky enough to encounter.